Page 14 of I'll Be the One

A text message pops up on my screen.

LANA MIN:Hey, did you get the schedule???

It’s only then that I remember that I exchanged numbers with Lana back at the audition.

ME:Yeah!

LANA MIN:FORGOT TO TELL YOU EARLIER BUT TIFFANY AND I BOTH GOT IN TOO! ISN’T THIS SO EXCITING?

I grin at the all-caps message, and then immediately regret it when Ms. Blankenship says, “Miss Shin? Is there something funny you’d like to share with the rest of the class? I’m hoping it wasn’t about colonial diseases. Because there’s nothing funny about disease, and especially not smallpox, one of the deadliest diseases in human history.”

There are a few snickers from the rest of the class, but they’re cut off by a sharp glare from Ms. Blankenship.

“I think we’re due for a pop quiz. Everyone, clear your desks. You have Miss Shin to thank for this.”

Everyone shoots daggers at me. But instead of being mortified, I’m still a little giddy about the prospect of going to Korea. Even though LA Koreatownislike a mini Korea in and of itself, I still want to visit to see how everything’s changed since I last went.

Ms. Blankenship passes out the pop quiz. It’s printed onbright blue paper that’s still warm from the copy machine, so I know she’s been planning to give us one all along. She only used me as a scapegoat.

It sucks, but I have bigger problems right now. The most pressing one being that I need to figure out how to get to LA every week when I don’t even have a car. The truth is, I never expected this to be a problem, because I didn’t think I’d get in for both vocalsanddance. Dad promised to give me a ride, since he’s home every other weekend, but now I have to figure out how to get to LA on the weekends Dad isn’t here.

Even though I’m old enough to drive, I never learned because of Mom. Whenever I brought up the idea, she’d asked, “Why are you in a rush to learn how to drive? I learned to drive when I was thirty, after I got married and had you. School is close enough to walk from home!”

Dad and I tried to explain to Mom about how the culture is different here in America, where everything is so spread apart that you can’t do everything by just walking around and taking public transportation like you can in Korea, but she never budged. Dad promised to teach me, but he never got around to it. I guess it’s hard when he’s almost never here.

Ms. Blankenship clears her throat as she walks by my desk, and I belatedly realize that she’s already finished passing out the quiz. There’s no way that Mom will let me stay in the competition if I do badly in school. Deciding to worry about everything later, I push all thoughts ofYou’re My Shining Starout of my head and focus on the paper in front of me.

Chapter Six

THE FIRST DAY OF BOOT CAMP IS IN A WEST LArecording studio, which is about an hour away from my house. Dad’s not coming down from San Jose until next weekend, and Mom left early for work in the morning, so I end up asking Lana for a ride. Luckily, our house is on her way from Irvine to the studio.

On the outside, Lana’s car looks pretty normal. It’s a Toyota sedan, like the ones all my friends’ moms drive. But when I open the door to the passenger side, a pair of pink Converse sneakers tumbles out, almost hitting my feet.

“Sorry!” says Lana. “Tiffany and I drove down from NorCal, so my car is still a mess.”

I hand her the sneakers, and she chucks them into the back seat, along with a few other things. She’s moving too fast for me to see everything clearly, but I could have sworn I saw a rubber duck and at least five to-go boxes. I decide not tocomment on the mess and instead just say, “Hey, thanks for driving me,” as I get in the car.

“No problem!” Lana gives me a bright smile before she pulls into the highway. She’s as dazzling as she was in the auditions, with her reddish-blond hair done in long curls that elegantly spool out to her shoulders. This time, her lips are a magenta red and are incredibly shiny in a way that makes me wonder how she manages to get them to stay that way. At this point, I’m convinced that she’s just magic. If little cherubs sing out in a heavenly choir every morning this girl gets up from bed, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Traffic is pretty light, or as light as it gets in LA. Even though there are cars lined up in every lane of the highway, we’re at least still moving. Typical LA traffic is bad enough to make every brave soul have a nervous breakdown while on the road.

“It’s Saturday morning.” Lana groans, resting her head on the steering wheel. “Where are all these people going?”

“Brunch?” I suggest, although I really have no idea.

We live less than thirty miles away from LA on the map, but I rarely go up north to the city because I can’t drive.

“So... are you guys from NorCal?” I ask after a few minutes, breaking the awkward silence. “But you live in Irvine now, right?”

“Well, I’m originally from down here but went up north for college,” Lana replies. “And my parents moved up with mebecause, well, they have no sense of boundaries. Right now, though, Tiffany and I are staying with one of my Irvine friends for the competition. It’s honestly a relief. We live together up north, but our parents live there. They’re always trying their best to separate us. It’s really annoying.”

I bite my lip, because I know this is probably what would happen if I ever dated a girl, too. I’ve thought about it plenty of times, and sometimes I’m attracted to girls more than I’m attracted to boys. But there’s no way my parents would be okay with it. Korea didn’t have a Pride festival until 2000, and even now, groups show up to Pride just to call people “sinners.” Police have to be present to make sure no one gets hurt.

Things might be better with the younger generations, but my parents are still way too old-fashioned to be okay with me dating a girl. If anything, they’d probably think it was a phase until I “met the right guy.”

My heart aches just thinking about what kind of hurt Tiffany and Lana must have suffered from their families. I can tell she’s trying to be cool about it, but there’s a slight quiver in Lana’s lips as she stares resolutely at the road ahead.

“How long have you guys been dating?” I ask, trying to steer the conversation to something happy. “How did you two meet?”

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